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Human Perfection in Byzantine Theology
This work studies the approach to the question of human perfection in a number of seminal Byzantine theological figures (from 7th-14th centuries), in conversation with modern Orthodox Christian thought. The Byzantine authors examined include Maximus the Confessor, Theodore the Studite, Symeon the New Theologian, and Gregory Palamas.
Repentance in Late Antiquity
The call to repentance is central to the message of early Christianity. While this is undeniable, the precise meaning of the concept of repentance for early Christians has rarely been investigated to any great extent, beyond studies of the rise of penitential discipline. In this study, the rich variety of meanings and applications of the concept of repentance are examined, with a particular focus on the writings of several ascetic theologians of the fifth to seventh centuries. These theologians provide some of the most sustained and detailed elaborations of the concept of repentance in late antiquity: SS Mark the Monk, Barsanuphius and John of Gaza, and John Climacus. They predominantly see repentance as a positive, comprehensive idea that serves to frame the whole of Christian life, not simply one or more of its parts.
Repentance in Late Antiquity
This study provides a fresh perspective on the concept of repentance in early Christianity. Alexis Torrance focuses on writings by several ascetic theologians of the fifth to seventh centuries, and also examines texts from Scripture, early Christian treatises and homilies, apocalyptic material, and canonical literature.
Individuality in Late Antiquity
Late antiquity is increasingly recognised as a period of important cultural transformation. One of its crucial aspects is the emergence of a new awareness of human individuality. In this book an interdisciplinary and international group of scholars documents and analyses this development. Authors assess the influence of seminal thinkers, including the Gnostics, Plotinus, and Augustine, but also of cultural and religious practices such as astrology and monasticism, as well as, more generally, the role played by intellectual disciplines such as grammar and Christian theology. Broad in both theme and scope, the volume serves as a comprehensive introduction to late antique understandings of human individuality.
Deification and Modern Orthodox Theology
Modern Orthodox identity is deeply interwoven with the notion of deification or union with God. For some theologians, deification represents the lens through which most, if not all, theological questions should be engaged. In this volume, Petre Maican undertakes the task of critically examining the extent to which deification informs the main debates inside Orthodox theology, focusing on four essential loci: anthropology, the Trinity, epistemology, and ecclesiology. Maican argues that while deification remains central to anthropology and the Orthodox understanding of the Trinity, it seems less relevant in the areas of ecclesiology and complexifies the Orthodox approach to Scripture and Tradition.
Personhood in the Byzantine Christian Tradition
Bringing together international scholars from across a range of linked disciplines to examine the concept of the person in the Greek Christian East, Personhood in the Byzantine Christian Tradition stretches in its scope from the New Testament to contemporary debates surrounding personhood in Eastern Orthodoxy. Attention is paid to a number of pertinent areas that have not hitherto received the scholarly attention they deserve, such as Byzantine hymnography and iconology, the work of early miaphysite thinkers, as well as the relevance of late Byzantine figures to the discussion. Similarly, certain long-standing debates surrounding the question are revisited or reframed, whether regarding the ...
Christian Inversion of Jewish Nationalist Monotheism, and its Modern Romantic-Narcissist Betrayal
This is a history of Western culture, divided into two parts. The first concerns the aggressive championing of monotheism by Jewish people as their distinctive national culture (although they only fell into or embraced it late in their development). Jesus offended by proposing an inversion of the divine protocols and an agenda more in harmony with international political realities: the one God proposed to use the Jews to reach (and transform) the entire human race, which was the actual object of His redemptive and creative energies. With the Renaissance widening opportunities for study, travel, learning and discovery, authorities had greater difficulty justifying limitations on individuals’ freedom of expression of heterodox artistic, political, philosophical or religious positions. This book explores the difficult modern psychological adjustment of dealing with a world with diminishing centers of authority – where it often seems as if no one is in charge – while also doing justice to one’s feelings of frustration and lack of fulfillment without becoming a radical narcissist.
Union with God
If salvation makes a person to become God, then how do we understand the word 'God'? Audy Santoso assesses Robert Jenson's notion of deification on three main areas: the concept of God, Christ, and self along with their ramifications. In this comparative study, Jenson's revisionary metaphysics in his theology opens up an insightful perspective in reading John Calvin's theology. Discussion on the Supper shows the intricate relation of what these theologians hope for with the practice of our lives in God. The author makes a comparative assessment and integration between the seemingly opposite metaphysics of Jenson and Calvin while keeping the Creator-creature distinction of Reformed theology intact. Jenson says that the end is music, but the author affirms a better way without negating Jenson's.
Patristic Spirituality
Patristic Spirituality explores the divine-human synergy active in the path of Divine ascent in early Christianity, examined through the eyes of notable early Church Fathers and Mothers with 22 patristics scholars as guides.
Thriving in the Face of Mortality
Kenosis, a Greek word meaning “depletion” or “emptying” and a concept borrowed from Christian theology, has deeply profound implications for understanding and ordering life in a world marked by suffering and death. Whereas the divine kenosis was voluntary, human beings experience an involuntary kenosis which is characterized by the inevitable losses experienced during the lives of mortal creatures. How one chooses voluntarily to respond to this involuntary kenosis, regardless of faith commitments, in effect defines us, both in our relationships with other suffering creatures and with the entire cosmos. This book offers a unique perspective on how the losses of involuntary kenosis choreograph the suffering which is such a defining aspect of the lives of persons, communities, and the environment in which they live, and how the kenotic process, rather than being a source of despair, can be a source of hope presenting opportunities for extraordinary personal growth.
